


Family Reunion

by Raptorik



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Gen, death in mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-06-03 09:28:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6605584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raptorik/pseuds/Raptorik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arc V 30 Day Challenge, prompt 8: Reunion - in which Yuuya finds himself a spectator. Again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> I've been thinking about the way Himika's character has been handled and I think it would just be tragically beautiful if it turned out that she was planning to reunite with her husband all along.

Yuuya flinched as a bright white light enveloped the room, trying to shield his eyes without closing them. It didn't work. Beneath him, the ground shook, the pure _energy_ shaking the foundation of not only the building but his very soul. He feared, for a moment, that he was dead, that maybe the room had been taken out in an explosion, but his fears were soon assuaged. The light wasn't solid vision; they'd just been held in the dark for so long that normal lighting was too much to handle.

At his side, Shun Kurosaki stirred, mumbling incoherent nothings to nobody at all. He didn't wake, which seemed to be the new norm for him. Yuuya had spent the last three days worrying about the man, but when he had begged his only other living comrade for good news, Reiji had merely bowed his head and stared at the wall to his opposite side, refusing to meet Yuuya's eyes.

So, this was it. Yuuya had known that for a long time. Even though a small part of him wanted to believe otherwise, the realization had slowly been inching its way from his heart to his gut, leaving an empty, aching feeling everywhere it touched. Now, all he could do was whisper another response to Kurosaki's mutterings, hoping the man would hear the reassurance deep in his hellscape of a dream, that it would somehow ease his pain.

"You know he can't hear you, right?" A woman's voice echoed off the walls, tremendously powerful in the way that it reverberated her every contempt for the three young men before her. "He deserved it, though – so _do_ be on your best behavior."

Yuuya felt Kurosaki's body shift the tiniest bit. That meant Reiji was doing it again – refusing to acknowledge the woman, staring anywhere but at her as he squirmed against their bindings. He couldn't say he blamed the guy, even if it _did_ make their captor even less pleasant than usual.

"Oh, Reiji, dear. When are you going to stop taking this so personally?"

Her sickeningly sweet tone only stoked the anger threatening to overcome Yuuya's every sense. "Leave him alone, you vile bitch," he spat, recycling the insult that had earned Kurosaki his near-fatal head wound.

"Yuuya." When Reiji finally spoke, his voice was hollow, and he still wasn't making eye contact. Regardless, his familiar voice soothed the intense urge to _destroy_ that was eating away at Yuuya's core, so at least it was a start. "That's... not necessary."

"Sorry," Yuuya mumbled back. He forced himself to sit further upright on the uncomfortable bench, pressing his shoulders back against the wall. They had to retain their dignity if nothing else was left.

"The offer still stands," Himika Akaba continued as if she hadn't been insulted to her face. "Your father is willing to overlook your treachery and disobedience if you'll do this one thing."

When Reiji looked up at his mother, there was something unfamiliar in his eyes that made Yuuya wonder, for a moment, if he had considered his parents' offer. Were he in Reiji's position, he knew he'd probably be begging for mercy at this point and would have taken them up on it. All Reiji had to do was accept, of his own volition, the punishment of having his memory rewritten; he would be their child again, the perfect heir to an interdimensional kingdom with infinite power and wealth. If he could forget every pain that he had suffered while fighting against Academia, Yuuya wasn't so sure his own resolve would last.

But Reiji was as he always had been. "I'd rather die," he told his mother, his voice even and unwavering despite the clear desperation that shimmered in his eyes. "You... You _slaughtered_ Layra, when all he ever did was –"

"Was _disappoint_ me," Himika cut him off, glowering. "He was not my _son,_ nor did he ever display even a fraction of your greatness. I tried everything in my power to sculpt him into the perfect warrior, but he simply did not want to achieve anything. He deserved to die."

"He wanted nothing more than to _please you_ , Mother." Reiji's voice cracked, and Yuuya remembered the very moment the life had left Layra's eyes – the way his tiny body had gone slack in Reiji's arms – and the way Reiji had _howled_ his sorrow instead of fighting back against Himika's elite guard. He never wanted to hear anything that haunting, never _ever_ again. But Reiji was breaking for real this time, slowly but surely, and he knew it was only a matter of time before he agreed to Leo Akaba's terms. "I wish, more than anything, that you never would have gotten your claws around that poor child, so that _maybe_ he could have lived. After all the hell he went through, all he wanted was a family."

"And you were going to be his loving big brother, hmm?" Himika grinned down at them, her lips pulled back to expose her gleaming teeth in a predatory manner. "Don't be ridiculous. You couldn't truly, selflessly provide for another human being, Reiji. You're selfish to your core, and stubborn, too. The child should be glad he only had to depend on you as long as he had to. He's likely better off dead."

Yuuya could feel Reiji trembling, even with a body between them. So badly he wanted to chime in again, to tell the evil woman off for how little she knew her own son, but he knew that it would fall on deaf ears. He wasn't stupid; it was obvious that she was purposely trying to rile Reiji up, and she knew perfectly well how to do just that. Instead of making a scene, he decided to check on Kurosaki's vitals one more time, even though he knew it was just as pointless as it had been the last time.

"You know," Reiji said, his voice just barely a whisper, "I had hoped our reunion would be something more than this. Something more than... just business. I was lying to myself all this time, though, wasn't I? Because you're my mother, I tried to pretend... that you would do the right thing, that I could trust you. In the end, being wrong has cost me everything, but I would perish knowing that my clouded judgment has ended the world... rather than live one moment in ignorant bliss at your side."

When Himika stormed from the room, Yuuya watched Reiji Akaba, their imperfect leader, slump against the wall in defeat. Not knowing what else to do, he reached around Kurosaki, pushing the dead weight of his body towards the wall so that he could grasp at Reiji's hand.

Before the lights went out, Yuuya could see tears weighing down Reiji's eyelashes, and he _knew_ that nothing he could say would alleviate the man's suffering. But he had to try. "I won't blame you if you say yes," he said, offering the winning smile he usually saved for an audience. "Either way, though, you should know... that everything you've done, up until this point? It's more than anyone else would or _could_ have done. And I'm honored that you thought I was good enough to fight at your side. You're amazing, you know."

The room fell into complete darkness again. There was a pause during which Reiji didn't respond, and all Yuuya could hear was Kurosaki's faint heartbeat so close to his ear. He wondered if maybe he'd said something stupid, but then Reiji was squeezing his hand back as if it were his only lifeline, his fingers trembling and betraying every ounce of sorrow and terror he'd been holding back in front of his mother.

"I'm not going to say yes," came his voice, barely traveling the distance between them. "I _would_ rather die."

"You're not allowed to say things like that," Yuuya scolded, giving Reiji's hand a solid shake of disapproval. "Look, I know you don't really like me –"

"That's not true."

"–but I consider you my friend. And I'm tired of my friends dying."

Reiji's hand fell slack, but Yuuya refused to let it go.

"So, even if it sucks, just... keep thinking. I'm sure you'll come up with a great solution. You're the best at this, and I still believe you can get us out of here. You're not allowed to give up before me, all right?"

After a moment of silence, Reiji's fingers entwined with Yuuya's once more. "I'm astounded that you think so highly of me," the man whispered. "Even so, I'd be honored... to call you my friend, Yuuya."

"That's the spirit." Despite everything, Yuuya felt the smallest of smiles spreading across his face. "So just remember that we're going to get out of here, no matter what she says the next time she stops by. Or I really will punch you in the face."

Yuuya wasn't sure if Reiji was trying to hold back his tears or if he was choking out the most pathetic laugh in history, but for the first time, the wall that had stood between them – the false pretenses, their lack of understanding – was simply _gone_.


End file.
